In the new cold war, Hungary is located on the east-west border, said the prime minister.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gives a speech at the "Economic Year Opening 2024" forum organized by the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MKIK). Minister of Finance Mihály Varga, Minister of Economic Development Márton Nagy and László Parragh, president of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also gave presentations at the event.
However, Central Bank President György Matolcsy will not participate in the event this year either.
"It is still the government's position that economic policy is made by economic ministers," Viktor Orbán declared in his speech at the "Economic Year Opening 2024" forum. "And our position has not changed, that all economic policies must have some basis," he added.
He noted that "they could see that the economic ministers were in good shape, as they showed quite excellent and encouraging figures. They made a good mood for today," it was said.
At the beginning of his speech, he also said that there are two types of European economic policies: union-based and market-based.
He then went on to say that successful economic policy has two conditions: successful economic governance and a good chamber background.
"That's why I'm optimistic about the economic policy of the two years ahead," he looked into the future.
The prime minister stated that the prime minister's role in economic policy is to ensure that common peasant wisdom is not lost. Unfortunately, for the time being, they do not belong to us, but we belong to others, he added.
We always have to earn more than we spend, he said.
"The budget deficit does not correspond to this for the time being. The third point is that it is better to work than to act. All efforts should be focused on making sense of work. It's better if we make money from others - this is the fourth item," said Viktor Orbán.
In the Prime Minister's speech at the opening of the year, he also mentioned that "we now see a chance that the Hungarian economy can gain more momentum in 2024, and this is possible because, despite the crises in the period between 2020 and 2024, the real economy survived this without major problems the period. (…) We let people and entrepreneurs earn between 2010-19," he recalled.
The head of government called it a great achievement that the value of Eastern investments jumped to the first place, while that of Hungarians to the fourth.
It is clear that we are part of the Western world, but we do not separate ourselves from the Eastern part either, he underlined.
The prime minister could not avoid the topic of the Russian-Ukrainian war either. "While the West feels this war is its own, all the rest of the world does not want to engage in this war or takes a pro-Russian position. The subject of discourse in Western Europe is whether they should deploy troops in the Russian-Ukrainian war," he pointed out.
This means that geopolitical rivalry overrides economic logic.
This age is not characterized by economic rationality, but by political considerations. It doesn't matter to Hungary how this dispute ends," he said.
Orbán also spoke about the decoupling phenomenon, which is about "the West separating itself from the rest of the world as much as possible and protecting what it has."
He noted that “there's another way of thinking that believes the West is losing ground and that's because we're not competitive. Because if we were, we would not gain an advantage politically, but through economic competition".
Viktor Orbán emphasized: "in the new cold war, Hungary is located on the east-west border. We will become a periphery if we do not cooperate and there is no trade". According to him, this is why investments are very important: an Eastern production company is coming next to a Western one.
"Hungarian economic policy is betting on maintaining the relationship between the two worlds, not separating ourselves from the eastern part of the world. We will only give up cooperation with Russia where Western sanctions preclude it," concluded the Prime Minister.
"Only a new person can find a way out of this conflict. (…) The world's only chance for a relatively quick peace is the political change in the United States, which is related to the person of the president," said the prime minister, and then underlined: this is not a matter of sympathy. "We do not see in the current American administration the ability to create a quick peace, which is also a key issue from the point of view of the Hungarian economy.
That's why we give an old-new president more chances to succeed," stated the position of the Hungarian government.
According to the prime minister, it is not worth giving up the V4 structure, because there is still an opportunity.
"In reality, it still works, but there is another form of cooperation: the system of sovereign states. In this way, the Austrian-Hungarian-Slovak-Serbian cooperation can have more and more content," he noted.
He also spoke about the profit balance, stating that it is still not adequate. "They always take more money out of Hungary than they bring here. According to the prime minister, Hungary can only function as an open economy, and for this the profit balance must be improved".
"Foreign companies take out 4-6 billion euros, which is not something to be happy about. However, if the government were to close this, the investments would not come," he said.
Finally, he said that Hungarian companies export 4-6 billion euros and bring 3 billion euros here, together with EU funds.
"That's why it's most important to support the national champions who make a profit abroad," underlined the Prime Minister.
At the beginning of his speech, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga stated that "the cobbler should stay at the stake", thereby indicating that he would primarily talk about stability, which includes: the budget, taxation and the government securities market.
He then went on to say that "such an export-oriented country as Hungary cannot afford not to deal with the external environment".
It was said that Europe is basically in decline, which is a negative development for us because the European Union is our main export market.
The business sentiment indices do not promise much good, and neither do the EU growth forecasts," the head of the ministry looked into the future.
He then moved on to evaluating the domestic situation. Varga emphasized that we are slowly getting over the economic difficulties. However, according to the head of the ministry, "it is difficult to be proud of last year's GDP, but overall the economic picture is favorable these days: the public budget deficit is undoubtedly high, but at the same time, the government has set a path that will bring it back below the 3 percent limit," stated the finance minister.
László Parragh, the president of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, emphasized in his speech: "hopefully, the seven tight years are over, as the past years have not been easy".
He stated: "a reorganization is visible in the international economic situation, the competitiveness of the EU is in trouble".
In relation to automobile production, he underlined the direction of the green transition: this is the way of the future, and Hungary could be in a completely different situation with it, he said. According to Parragh, new economic relationships need to be created, “that would be connectivity”.
In his speech, the president of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry summarized the international challenges as "the stars are right, both politically and the direction of capital is right for Hungary".
Cover image: Viktor Orbán gives a speech at the opening of the economic year
Source: Magyar Nemzet/Árpád Kurucz
